Form stop for carriages



May 8, 1956 BECKER 2,744,604

FORM STOP FOR CARRIAGES Filed Dec. 26, 1952 INVENTOR. FRED BECKER ATTORNEY United States PatentO 2,744,604 FORM STOP FOR CARRIAGES Fred Becker, Queens Village, N. Y., assignor to Underv'vood Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application December 26, 1952, Serial No. 328,120

4 Claims. (Cl. 197-140) This application relates to a front feeding device for typewriter and the like carriages, and more particularly to an adjustable bottom edge gauge for short forms.

In typewriters or accounting machines, it is sometimes desirable to print on short work sheets such as checks which are to be inserted in front of the platen. Insertion and accurate alignment of such short forms will be considerably aided if stops are provided to accurately locate the lower edge of such forms. In the past, lower edge stops have not been satisfactory, in that they interfere with the platen feed rolls or with rear inserted work sheets which pass behind the short forms or have occupied substantial space in the carriage, requiring a specially built carriage.

It is an object of the present invention to provide bottom edge stops for front fed checks or the like which stops are applicable to standard typewriter carriages without alteration of the carriage.

It is also an object to provide bottom edge stops which do not interfere with the normal use of the typewriter for long rear fed forms and thus permit joint use of rear fed forms and short front fed forms.

Another object of this invention is to provide short form front feed stops as above described which are adjustable to enable the use of the same stops for a plurality of different length short forms or to enable alignment of selected portions of one form with the printing line.

In the following specification, there are described two preferred modifications of such front fed form stops but substantial variations in structure within the scope of the present invention are possible and such specification and the drawings appended thereto are not to be taken as limiting the invention to the structures described therein.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is an end view partly in section of a portion of a carriage with the new stop applied thereto,

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the stop shown in Figure 1 and Figure 3 is a perspective view of a modified stop.

The rear edge stops of the present invention are illustrated and described as applied to the carriage of the well-known Underwood bookkeeping machine as shown in application Serial No. 248,373, filed September 26, 1951, by Arthur H. Sharpe, now Patent No. 2,647,610, although with obvious minor modifications they may be adapted to other carriages.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawing, the carriage 11 is supported on the machine frame 12 by a number of ball bearings 14 retained in grooves in the carriage 11 and frame 12. A platen 15 is rotatably supported between the endwalls of the carriage 11 to support work sheets to receive impressions from the usual type bars at the indicated printing line. Also mounted between the carriage ends are a paper table 17, a supporting bar 18, a guide 20 for rear fed work sheets and a front feed guide 21. A line of lower feed rolls 23 are mounted beneath the platen to pass through openings in the paper table 17 and contact platen 15 to hold inserted work sheets against the platen for feeding therewith.

As shown in Figure 1, the front feed guide 21 and the lower feed rolls 23 are in their lower positions to form a front feed throat into which work sheets may be inserted in front of the platen 15. Both guide 21 and rolls 23 are pivoted for movement about centers below and to the rear of platen 15 for movement into and out of the open throat position shown.

When short forms, such as checks, are to be inserted into the front feed throat, the new lower edge stops may be used to limit insertion of the formsto the desired depth. Each stop is inserted into the front feed throat between a pair of feed rolls 23 and between the platen 15 and paper table 17 to rest on table 17 clear of any rear fed forms.

These lower edge stops comprise a guide member 24, see also Figure 2, which has a slightly curved rearward extension to rest in the throat and has a substantially vertical front portion. The front portion of guide 24 has a slight forward offset to clear an upper projection of bar 18 and is fastened to bar 18 by a screw 26. The rearward extension of guide 24 is perforated with a plurality of rearwardly spaced pairs of holes 27 in which a form stop member may be adjustably secured. The form stop member comprises a curved upper plate 29 having a stop edge 30 bent downwardly from the front part to contact the upper face of guide 24, and a curved lower plate 32 secured to plate 29 by brazing or riveting. Lower plate 32 is formed with a pair of lugs 33 bent upwardly from its front edge into contact with the lower side of top plate 29 and behind stop edge 30.

Lugs 33 of lower plate 32 are spaced apart the same distance as the holes 27 in guide 24 and are insertable into any pair of holes 27 to adjustably position the stop edge 30 with respect to guide 24, the plates 29 and 32 being sufficiently resilient to enable guide 24 to be passed between them.

In the second modification of the device illustrated in Figure 3, the guide member 36 is formed similarly to guide 24 of Figure 2 but is perforated with pairs of slots 37 rather than holes. The edge stop in this modification is a single curved plate 39 which is slotted part way down its central line and has a pair of cars 40 bent downwardly from its front edge. These ears 40 are slight- 1y smaller than slots 37 and have a notch 42 in their outer sides to engage the guide 36. The normal spacing of cars 40 is greater than that between slots 37 but may be reduced by pressure on the sides of plate 39 to enable the ears to be inserted in a pair of slots 37 whereupon the resilience of plate 39 expands the cars 40 to bring notches 42 into engagement with guide 36 to lock the plate 39 on guide 36. The portion of cars 40 above notches 42 is then positioned above guide 36 to serve as a form stop for front inserted forms.

The above descriptions of preferred embodiments of my invention are illustrative only as many modifications may be made within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A lower edge stop means to arrest the lower edge of work sheets inserted in front of the platen of a typewriter or the like, said stop means comprising a guide member having a portion formed for attachment to a machine part stationary with respect to a work sheet and a perforated, curved surface to engage and guide the lower edge of a work sheet, and a stop member having integral projections engageable in perforations of said guide member, said stop member being resiliently deformable to enable insertion and retention of said projections in said perforations of said guide member.

2 A typewriting or the like machine having a carn'age, a platen therein, means forming a front feed throat to enable front feeding of work sheets with respect to said platen, and stop means on said carriage to limit insertion of work sheets into said front feed throat, said stop means comprising a guide member secured to said carriage and inserted into said throat to direct the lower edge of a work sheet, said guide member being provided with a plurality of lines of perforations therein, and a stop member to arrest said work sheet, said stop member having integral projections thereon for insertion into a line of perforations of said guide member and being resiliently deformable from the normal position to enable insertion of said projections in said perforations and to retain said stop member on said guide member when undeformed.

3. The invention as set out in claim 2 in which said stop member is formed with an upper stop portion and a lower resilient portion connected thereto, said integral projections comprising a pair of lugs on said lower portion engageable in said perforations of said guide memher.

4. The invention as set out in claim 2 in which the integral projections of said stop member comprise a pair of depending notched stop lugs having a spacing diiferent from that of a pair of perforations of said guide member and a central slot enabling the spacing of said stop lugs to be resiliently varied whereby said lugs may be inserted in a line of perforations of said guide member and will upon release thereof engage said notches with the edges of the perforations of said guide member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

